‘The Rings of Power’ season 2 just gave us the origin story we wanted, and it was perfect
For its first season, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power played its cards very close to its chest with a mystery box setup that kept building suspense on who certain characters—like Halbrand, Sauron, and The Stranger—were. In season 2, we’re getting our answers.
One of the biggest questions going into The Rings of Power season 1 was the identity of Sauron. You see, Sauron was known to be a shape shifter. Before being corrupted by Morgoth, Sauron was a Maiar, a race of angelic beings to which even the wizards, like Saruman and Gandalf, and the Balrogs belonged to. So he already had a lot of power, and he was a skilled sorcerer who could shapeshift into anyone. When The Stranger arrived in a fiery meteor to Middle-earth, and was called Sauron by the three evil-looking witches trailing him, it wasn’t a stretch to assume that Sauron could’ve lost his memory from being displaced after the defeat of Morgoth.
However, at the end of The Rings of Power season 1, in a confrontational scene between Galadriel and Halbrand, the identity of Sauron was finally confirmed.
So then, Is Halbrand Sauron?
Yes, indeed, as of The Rings of Power season 1 episode 8, “Alloyed,” it is confirmed that Halbrand is Sauron. After the battle in the Southlands leaves Halbrand injured, Galadriel rides with him to Eregion so he can be treated with elvish medicine. Halbrand heals quickly and is seen taking a keen interest in the works of the elven smith and Lord of Eregion, Celebrimbor. He flatters him, says just the right things, and even suggests on how best to use mithril alloyed with other metals.
When Galadriel hears Celebrimbor propose forging rings using the exact words that Adar had attributed to Sauron, she grows suspicious and begins looking into the records of lineage of the Southland kings. She finds out that the line was broken many years ago, and Halbrand is not who he claims he is. When she confronts him, he reminds her that he had told her when they met that he was not a king, and the sigil hanging around his neck was something he picked off the body of a dead man!
And when Galadriel asks him what his name is, Halbrand reveals that he has been awake “since the breaking of the first silence” and in that time “I’ve had many names…” This confirms Galadriel’s worst fears that Halbrand had been Sauron all along, and when he proposes to her to be his queen to rule over all Middle-earth, it is fully established who he is. In the final scene of season 1, we see Halbrand, having fled from Eregion and now fully embracing his true self, look upon Mount Doom spitting fire, and it reflected in his eye, a fiery image of the Eye of Sauron that we know him as from the LOTR movies.
Spoilers ahead for The Rings of Power season 2 episodes 1–3!
Is Halbrand in The Rings of Power season 2?
The second season of TROP begins with a flashback, sort of an origin story of how Sauron became Halbrand. After his boss Morgoth is defeated, there’s the question of who his successor would be. We see Sauron, who has refashioned Morgoth’s crown (in which he wore the Silmarils), ready to stake his claim. He makes the whole speech about trying to harness a power of the Unseen World over flesh. And all this while Adar and the orcs are listening to him quietly, as he talks about his plans that will bind them in eternal servitude to Sauron, who doesn’t really care about orc lives and considers them dispensable.
However, in a scene that’s reminiscent of the stabbing of Julius Caesar, Adar first kneels before Sauron, and then proceeds to place Morgoth’s crown over Sauron’s head, but instead stabs him with it. And then, his children, the Uruk, also gather around and stab Sauron to death. Or so it would seem. Because Sauron’s black blood leaks through cracks in the stone floors, and in a scene straight out of some horror creature flick, Sauron escapes in the form of a black gooey blob, letting Adar and the orcs think he is dead.
On the road, as he slithers, a carriage with a solo passenger stumbles upon him, and Sauron scores his chance. Because he is a shapeshifter, he takes the body of this human and we see him transform into Halbrand. As Halbrand is making his way to the Southlands, he meets a group of people walking away from it, and one of them, a kind soul, warns him to not go there and join his people who are sailing away. Halbrand joins them on a boat, which gets attacked by a sea worm, gravely injuring the man who helped Halbrand. However, instead of saving him, Halbrand snatches away the Southland king’s sigil hanging around the man’s neck, and makes an escape on a raft with a few others, where he finally meets Galadriel.
Okay, that was perfect! Jack Lowden’s performance as Sauron showed us a different side to him than the one played by Charlie Vickers, and the scene with Adar and the orcs’ betrayal just makes you understand Sauron’s Halbrand a bit more.
The Rings of Power season 2 will follow Sauron’s dark deception that leads to the forging of the rings of power!
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